Activities of Lara WOLTERS related to 2020/2141(DEC)
Plenary speeches (1)
2019 Discharge (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2019, Section I – European Parliament
Amendments (41)
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 – indent 1
Paragraph 13 – indent 1
- with regard to the audit of procurement and contract implementation in the catering sector (DG INLO), achieving the internal control objectives through, notably, allowing longer time- limits for procurement that are proportionate to the complexity of the specifications; ensuring clearer, more relevant and accurate tender specifications; ensuring a transparent evaluation of tenders that is based on the published criteria and is properly documented; validating ad hoc contracts on concessions with the legal service; the critical importance of managing amendments to concession contracts in line with the rules; improved management monitoring and reporting; underlines the importance of taking criteria for environmental sustainability and social factors into account;
Amendment 13 #
16. NoteRejects the fact that no action has been taken in response to some of the recommendations in Parliament's resolution on the discharge for 2018, and that the discharge follow-up document does not provide any justification for this; stresses the importance of havingdemands more frequent discussions with the Secretary-General on issues concerning Parliament's budget and its implementation in Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control; calls on the Bureau to follow up on these recommendations;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Recognises the positive developments regarding gender balance and welcomes the new and more ambitious targets to be achieved by 2024; acknowledggrets the lack of gender balance of Bureau staff; Recognises the positive developments in this regard and acknowledges the new targets; recognizes the need for continuous monitoring on the topic;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Welcomes that more than 50% of Union citizens eligible to vote took part in the elections, and notes with satisfaction that it was the first time since the first direct elections in 1979 that turnout has increased; regrets, however, that the Spitzenkandidaten system for the appointment of the Commission President was not followed, unlike after the 2014 elections; observes that the system adds to the transparency and accountability of the Commission to Parliament; notes that the President of the European Commission acknowledges the need for improvement in this area in the Political Guidelines; stresses that, as stated in the Guidelines, a review of the way the leaders of the institutions are appointed and elected is needed;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Notes that ahead of and during the elections, all relevant Parliament’s stakeholders were kept up-to-date on disinformation and threats against Parliament from entities and actors seeking to undermine unity and European democracyCommends Parliament’s efforts to counter disinformation ahead of and during the elections; urges Parliament to take robust action to counter disinformation via regular information and warnings and that appropriate training and awareness-raising activities are organised for Members, staff and visitors; calls on Parliament to further strengthen the external communication of its activities;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37
37. Notes that, at its meeting of 11 February 2019, the Bureau confirmed the continuation of Parliament’s office in London; notes that on 5 October 2020, the Bureau acknowledged the closure of the Edinburgh antenna office at the end of 2020; acknowledges that the liaison office in as well as the European Union Delegation to the United Kingdom will continue to play a crucial role for Parliament in providing services to Members on delegations to the United Kingdom and in order to further engage with citizens, civil society, government, the parliamentary environment and media in that country; regrets therefore the refusal of the United Kingdom government to recognise the full diplomatic status of the European Union ambassador to the United Kingdom;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 a (new)
Paragraph 37 a (new)
37 a. Stresses the need for the revival of the debating culture in Parliament; welcomes the decision to require members to give speeches from the lectern facing the plenary; believes that the debating culture can also be improved by allowing sufficient time for the exchange of arguments and counter-arguments, for instance by extending the blue card procedure;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
Paragraph 40
40. Notes that the revised rules governing the payment of financial contributions for sponsored visitors’ groups entered into force on 1 January 2017; recalls that, in accordance with the principle of non-profit enshrined in these rules, heads of groups have an obligation to return any unused financial contribution after verification by Parliament’s services of a financial declaration; seeks greater assurance that the management of sponsored visitors’ groups is strictly in accordance with the applicable rules; reiterates its call to remove the possibility of appointing APAs as head of group and thus giving the financial responsibility of sponsored visits exclusively to a member of the group or to professionals, i.e. paying agents or travel agencies;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45
Paragraph 45
45. Is aware of the importance of the building policy, in particular the completion of final installation works at the Montoyer 63 building in Brussels, which was put in use in 2019, and the Adenauer project in Luxembourg, which is scheduled to be completed by end of June 2023; understands that, in 2019, the Committee on Budgets authorised a mopping-up transfer, amounting to EUR 31 million, for the pre-financing of the project, which excludes project management costs, financial costs, certified bodies, etc.; regrets the increased costs due to the constructions delays and notes that transactions with the construction companies (linked to the delay with the project) have been necessary to avoid further delays and costs (between 5% and 15% of the contract amount);
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50
Paragraph 50
50. Recalls that in 2020, Parliament launched an international architectural competition with two options, a comprehensive environmental renovation or reconstruction of the Spaak building; to take into account cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency as leading criteria; expects a detailed and public evaluation of the cost and energy efficiency of the selected proposal on the basis of the summary pre-project, which is to be developed by the winning architect in the course of 2021; demands that the renovation/reconstruction take into account Parliament’s current needs as described in the updated building strategy beyond 2019;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 53 a (new)
Paragraph 53 a (new)
53 a. Points to recent media reports that the thermal cameras in use in Parliament's premises for measuring the temperature of all persons entering Parliament is produced by Hikvision, a company importing and producing cameras from China’s Xinjiang province1a; recalls that Hikvision has been accused of providing surveillance equipment to internment camps in this province1b; notes that there is an unacceptable risk that Hikvision, through its operations in Xinjiang, is contributing to serious human rights abuses; recalls that Parliament awarded the 2019 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Ilham Tohti for his efforts to protect the rights of the Uyghur population in China; considers the use of thermal cameras of this provider in Parliament's premises therefore to be unacceptable; calls on the Secretary-General to terminate the contract with Hikvision and remove all of Hikvision’s thermal cameras from Parliament’s premises; stresses the need for the Bureau to be more prudent in the selection of equipment providers in the future; _________________ 1ahttps://www.dw.com/en/exclusive-eu- taps-chinese-technology-linked-to- muslim-internment-camps-in-xinjiang/a- 55362125 1b https://www.npr.org/2019/10/08/76815042 6/u-s-blacklists-chinese-tech-firms-over- treatment-of-uighurs?t=1611915285989
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 56
Paragraph 56
56. Takes note of the immediate actions, approved by the Bureau at its meeting of 22 July 2020, which included an awareness campaign, protection of valuable IT equipment, prior notification of maintenance works, and provisions of separate master keys for each floor and strict limitation of their distribution; expresses its dismay over the general tone and specific messages of the awareness campaign that seems to hold Members and staff responsible of the protection of the equipment beyond common sense rather than focus on security measures; expects Parliament to adopt long-term measures to prevent thefts including among those envisaged the introduction of different levels of access rights within Parliament’s premises, increased CCTV coverage, and further actions relating to keys’ management policy, including the possibility of installing electronic door locks taking due account of the necessary proportionality between the investments needed and the actual value of stolen items;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 56
Paragraph 56
56. Takes note of the immediate actions, approved by the Bureau at its meeting of 22 July 2020, which included an awareness campaign, protection of valuable IT equipment, prior notification of maintenance works, and provisions of separate master keys for each floor and strict limitation of their distribution; expectscalls on Parliament to adopt long-term measures to prevent thefts including among those envisaged the introduction of different levels of access rights within Parliament’s premises, increased CCTV coverage, and further actions relating to keys’ management policy, including the possibility of installing electronic door locks taking due account of the necessary proportionality between the investments needed and the actual value of stolen items;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 72 a (new)
Paragraph 72 a (new)
72 a. Draws attention to four important investigations conducted by the EDPS involving Parliament, namely using NationBuilder to process personal data as part of its activities relating to the 2019 European election, failing to publish a compliant privacy policy for the "thistimeimvoting" website within the deadline set by the EDPS, and the body temperature checks as well as the test- booking website in the context of the COVID-19 crisis; notes that in the two first cases Parliament acted in line with EDPS' recommendations; reminds the aforementioned preliminary review of Parliament's data protection framework; calls on the relevant services of the Administration of Parliament to drawn lessons from the mentioned investigations for the future;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 74
Paragraph 74
74. Is convinced that the attractiveness of Parliament as an employer is a key component of its success; is deeply concerned by the difficulties encountered in recruiting some nationalities and bringing certain job profiles in-house; regrets Parliament’s over-dependence on external expertise; notes that DG PERS is currently running the project ‘Attracting and retaining top talent’ that aims at improving Parliament’s policies to attract and retain talent and at contributing to the development of Parliament’s long-term strategic vision on the jobs of the future; calls on the Secretary-General to do his utmost in order to reach aimprove the diversity and geographical balance ofor Parliament’s staff, both on the total number by country and on the number of management positions and to explore all available options in order to increase the competiattractiveness of Parliament as an employer;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 75
Paragraph 75
75. Is concerned bythe lack of diversity among Parliament’s staff; calls on the Secretary-General to make increasing diversity a priority; takes note of the difficulty of recruiting IT and financial specialists and staff at lower grades in Luxembourg, especially in the AST-SC category; stresses that a preliminary factual analysis that the Court addressed to the Secretary-General in this context shows that the selection process organised by the European Personnel Selection Office is not adapted to small-scale, targeted competitions, which are those most suited to the current recruitment needs of Union institutions; notes with satisfaction Parliament’s active involvement in an inter-institutional effort in reviewing the way competitions are currently run by European Personnel Selection Office; calls for a new selection framework to be developed for specialist competitions and the introduction of a mechanism for regularly reviewing its selection process; calls on the Secretary- General to organise specialist competitions in-house when appropriate;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 78
Paragraph 78
78. Welcomes the fact that promoting equal opportunities is a key component of Parliament's human resource policy; expresses its satisfaction as regards the fact that the gender equality roadmap continues to be implemented through concrete actions and that on 13 January 2020, the Bureau approved a set of more ambitious targets for gender balance in senior and middle management posts in Parliament’s Secretariat to be achieved by 2024: 50% female heads of units and directors, 40 % female directors- general; stresses the need for the Bureau to further step up its commitment to gender equality by committing to more ambitious targets to be achieved by 2022: 50% female heads of units and directors, 50% female directors-general; calls on the Bureau to also formulate ambitious targets for lower management posts;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 78 a (new)
Paragraph 78 a (new)
78 a. Reiterates that it is essential that staff representatives are heard when the Bureau discusses general matters affecting its staff policy, and asks again the Secretary-General to take the appropriate measures to implement this key approach; reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to take further steps to ensure transparency and fairness during senior management appointment procedures; asks for the full implementation of the measures recommended in Parliament’s resolution of 18 April 2018, notably that officials from staff representative bodies sit on Parliament’s senior management selection panels; calls, furthermore, for ensuring consistency when it comes to external publications of senior management posts and diligence in the publication of these posts as and when they fall vacant;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 78 a (new)
Paragraph 78 a (new)
78 a. Notes that teleworking arrangements and remote voting are now part of Parliament’s working arrangements for Members; calls on Parliament’s secretariat to continue facilitating these arrangements for Members on maternity, parental, carers, sick or special leave and explore using the arrangements in the future also, so as to allow Members to both hold meetings in their constituencies as well as with their colleagues in Brussels in what could be ‘hybrid’ weeks;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 79 a (new)
Paragraph 79 a (new)
79 a. Highlights the fact that current rules on the termination of contract for APAs do not foresee the possibility of a termination by “mutual consent”, which would be a way to recognise the special political relation between Members and assistants, where both parties can acknowledge the mutual trust is no longer persisting, and benefit from a common solution; notes that this issue has been highlighted in several Parliament discharge reports and expects action to be taken as soon as possible;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 79 b (new)
Paragraph 79 b (new)
79 b. Notes that members of staff who work in the Union institutions for less than 10 years cannot claim an Union pension, they must transfer their contributions to another fund which meets Parliament's rules regarding the type of fund and the age at which funds can be drawn; notes that many British APAs have not been able to transfer to United Kingdom pension funds which Parliament considers do not meet requirements; asks the Secretary-General to urgently look into this matter to ensure all members of staff can access their contributions;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 79 c (new)
Paragraph 79 c (new)
79 c. Recalls that Parliament has called for Union legislation that grants workers the right to digitally disconnect from work without facing negative repercussions; asks Parliament to promote and apply this principle to itself too;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 81
Paragraph 81
81. Welcomes the development of measures that contribute to a better balancing of professional and private life including the implementation of extended teleworking possibilities for Parliament’s staff and of measures promoting well-being at work; however, highlights the value of physical presence in Parliament; highlights the contribution of teleworking arrangements and remote voting to the further reduction of Parliament’s carbon footprint; stresses the need for Parliament's staff and Members to be provided the opportunity to continue the conduct of so-called hybrid meetings as well as remote voting; calls on the Bureau to continue providing instruments to facilitate these arrangements in future;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 82 a (new)
Paragraph 82 a (new)
82 a. Deplores the fact that Members who are on maternity leave cannot be substituted; is of the opinion that this is at odds with core values of the Union because it implies that a vote on a female candidate may lead to temporary non- representation; is of the opinion that the impossibility (under normal circumstances) to vote remotely in plenary and in Parliament’s committees for Members on maternity and parental leave, carers’ leave, but also those on long-term sick leave as well as in cases of force majeure is an unresolved problem; calls on the Council to amend Art 6 of the Act concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage (European Electoral Act) in order to remedy the situation; calls on the Bureau to amend the Rules of Procedure accordingly;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 84
Paragraph 84
84. Is aware ofRegrets the 38 cases involving Parliament pending with European Anti- Fraud Office in 2019 ranging from the proper use of parliamentary allowances and staff conduct to the financing of European political structures; points out the fact that 14 cases were closed in 2019;
Amendment 154 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 86 b (new)
Paragraph 86 b (new)
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 86 a (new)
Paragraph 86 a (new)
86 a. Expresses strong concern for the working conditions of two of the external concessions contracted by Parliament, namely the cleaning and the restauration staff of Parliament, and strongly recommends that DG INLO organises an independent survey about the satisfaction with the working conditions of the staff concerned subcontracted by Parliament, in order to ensure respect and dignity at work; notes that such a survey was recommended in the previous Parliament discharge report, but that it was not followed up on; repeats this recommendation and urges the Bureau to act on this; calls for an evaluation of Parliament’s public procurement policy in light of improving transparent and predictable working conditions for all subcontracted services; calls on Parliament to report to the discharge authority on the results of such evaluation;
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 86 c (new)
Paragraph 86 c (new)
86 c. Recalls with disappointment the dismissal of 60 employees working in Parliament’s catering services as of January 2021; notes that the dismissed staff was informed shortly before Christmas 2020 and in the middle of a pandemic; stresses that some of the dismissed staff had worked on Parliament’s premises for decades; recalls Parliament’s repeated calls on companies across the Union to retain their staff during the pandemic; urges the Secretary- General to respond without delay to a letter sent about the dismissal signed by 355 Members; asks to consider if Parliament could guarantee these workers job security by the internalisation of the catering service and directly hiring the catering personnel, following the good example of Parliament's car drivers;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 86 d (new)
Paragraph 86 d (new)
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 86 e (new)
Paragraph 86 e (new)
86 e. Recalls that a majority of the Members have repeatedly expressed that the monthly move from Brussels to Strasbourg entails excessive financial and environmental costs that cannot be justified to voters and taxpayers; urges the Member States to assess whether a continuation of the obligation to hold 12 parliamentary sessions a year in another working place is tenable from a financial, environmental and health perspective in a changed global context;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 86 f (new)
Paragraph 86 f (new)
86 f. Reiterates that the COVID-19 crisis constitutes a ‘force majeure’ situation which has forced Parliament to scrap a substantial amount of the 12 Strasbourg sessions from the 2020 parliamentary calendar; upholds that costs and health consequences caused by the COVID-19 crisis should not be compounded by costly moves to Strasbourg; strongly urges the Member States to, by way of derogation from the Treaty, refrain from insisting on compensatory sessions in Strasbourg;
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 86 c (new)
Paragraph 86 c (new)
86 c. Reiterates its concern about the alleged practice of Members obliging APAs to undertake missions, particularly to Strasbourg, without mission orders, mission costs or even travel costs; is of opinion that such a practice leaves room for abuse: where APAs travel without a mission order they not only have to pay for the costs by their own means, they are also not covered by workplace insurance; calls on the Secretary-General to investigate this alleged practice and to report on this by the end of the year;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 86 d (new)
Paragraph 86 d (new)
86 d. Reiterates its call on the Conference of Presidents and the Bureau to reconsider the possibility for APAs, under certain conditions to be determined, to accompany Members on official Parliament delegations and missions, as already requested by several Members; takes note of the estimated financial impact explained by the Secretary- General on his follow-up to the 2018 discharge but insists on the limited extension of this possibility; suggests a new discussion at the level of the Bureau and the Conference of Presidents;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 87
Paragraph 87
87. Recalls Article 27(1) and (2) of the Statute for Members of the Parliament which states that “the voluntary pension fund set up by Parliament shall be maintained after the entry into force of this Statute for Members or former Members who have already acquired rights or future entitlements in that fund” and that “acquired rights and future entitlements shall be maintained in full”; is however convinced of the need to further explain the legal consequences of the rules and/or to modify the rules; asks the Secretary- General to guarantee that no taxpayer money is used for the future payments
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 87 a (new)
Paragraph 87 a (new)
87 a. Recalls paragraph 118 of the 2017 Parliament discharge Resolution which called to investigate the legal foundations of the Voluntary Pension Fund and in particular, whether Parliament as has a legal obligation to guarantee that future entitlements shall be maintained in full and to fill the potential deficits of the fund or put fresh money in to the fund, given that the Voluntary Pension Fund is a SICAV investment fund under Luxembourg law rather than a regular pension fund, which would imply that there is in principle no such obligation; regrets that the Secretary-General has not yet come forward with any findings in response to the investigation called for;
Amendment 181 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 87 b (new)
Paragraph 87 b (new)
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 87 c (new)
Paragraph 87 c (new)
87 c. Recalls that for all beneficiaries of the voluntary pension fund the benefits represent an additional rather than their only source of income; underlines that due to a low-interest-rate environment, the amount of defined benefit schemes has radically declined across the Union; objects against sheltering former members of Parliament from this dynamic; rejects any situation in which the actuarial deficit of the fund leads to any form of bail-out with taxpayer money;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 90
Paragraph 90
90. Recalls that, at its meeting of 10 December 2018, the Bureau decided to modify the rules applicable to the pension scheme by increasing the retirement age from 63 to 65 years and introducing a levy of 5% to pension payments for future pensioners with a view to improve its sustainability; welcomes that the immediate effects of the rules change were savings in the 2019 pensions payments amounting to approximately EUR 325 000, that of these, EUR 306 000 stem from the increase in pension age and EUR 19 000 stem from the introduction of a 5% levy to all pensions established after 1 January 2019; asks that the Bureau evaluate all possible options as soon as the Court of Justice has made its decisions regarding the current measures in order to find a fair solution to the voluntary pension scheme and fund while keeping Parliament's liability to a minimum; including liquidation of the fund, a further increase of the retirement age and a reduction of pension benefits paid out;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 91
Paragraph 91
91. Calls upon the Secretary-General and the Bureau to fully respect the Statute for Members and to establish with the pension fund a clear plan for Parliament assuming and taking over its obligations and responsibilities for its Members’ voluntary pension scheme; sSupports the request from the Bureau to the Secretary- General to investigate ways to ensure a sustainable financing of the voluntary pension fund in accordance with the provisions of the Statute for Members while ensuring the protection of Union taxpayers and full transparency; appeals to the Bureau and the members of the voluntary pension fund to support measures aiming at limiting the deficit of the voluntary pension fund;
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 97 a (new)
Paragraph 97 a (new)
97 a. Welcomes Parliament's intention to introduce sustainability reporting, which will include social aspects of procurement, calls on the Parliament to monitor developments in the field of social and sustainable public procurement, such as the OECD work on Public Procurement and Responsible Business Conduct and the upcoming Union legislation on corporate due diligence; believes that by incorporating responsible business standards in its procurement and purchasing policies, Parliament can lead by example, safeguard the public interest and ensure the accountability of public spending;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 98 a (new)
Paragraph 98 a (new)
98 a. Stresses that Parliament has to honour its commitments regarding the fight against climate change, and must consequently take appropriate steps in all its buildings to make sufficient bicycle internal and external parks, where bicycles are protected against theft, vandalism and the elements, available to all staff, and at the very least offer the same arrangements currently available in staff car parks; a system whereby vignettes are used as a means of identification could also be very worthwhile in this regard;